During the October II 2017 plenary session, the European Parliament (EP) was due to decide whether and how to amend the Council of the European Union's position adopted in September 2017 on the 2018 draft EU budget put forward by the European Commission in May 2017.

The report adopted by the EP Committee on Budgets reversed all the cuts proposed by the Council. Furthermore, it increased appropriations for a number of Parliament’s priority programmes linked to sustainable growth, jobs – particularly youth employment, security, and climate change.

In the vote in the plenary session on the 25 October 2017 Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) set overall EU budget for 2018 at €162.6bn (+1.2% on the European Commission’s draft budget) for commitments and €146.7bn (+0.9%) for payments.

MEPs reversed all cuts proposed by the Council of the European Union to the draft 2018 EU budget. They wished to boost funds for research, infrastructure projects and to fight youth unemployment. The EP’s negotiating team now had a strong mandate for the upcoming budget talks wth rhe Council and European Commission.

The plenary vote kicked off 21 days of 'conciliation' talks with the Council, with the aim of reaching a deal between the two institutions in time for the 2018 budget to be voted on by Parliament and signed by its President on 30 November 2017.